Farm Days

Cornell will participate in the 78th annual Empire Farm Days, Aug. 11-13, at Rodman Lott and Son Farms, Route 414 in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

The event showcases new agricultural technology, crops and markets, with three days of hands-on demonstrations and seminars, and more than 600 exhibitors and vendors.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell Cooperative Extension and various Cornell-affiliated programs, including an Ag in the Classroom interactive children's corner, will be represented at the fair. The Cornell Center in the Morton building, with more than 30 booths, will focus on sustainable and local food production, bioenergy and animal health; with information about the university's resources for farmers, home gardeners and landowners.

Cornell faculty and extension educators at a new "Hot Topics" booth will discuss critical issues facing New York growers and residents, from natural gas drilling in the state's Southern Tier to the spread of the invasive emerald ash borer and the outbreak of tomato and potato late blight.

Event hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 11-12; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 13. Admission is free; parking is $5. Information: http://www.empirefarmdays.com.

Bloomsbury play

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art will host a reading of a short play in conjunction with the current exhibition "A Room of Their Own: The Bloomsbury Artists in American Collections."

The reading takes place Aug. 7 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at the museum. Eileen Atkins's play "Vita and Virginia" explores the intimate bond between Virginia Woolf and her friend Vita Sackville-West -- members of the Bloomsbury group, a collective of artists and writers whose complex talents combined to produce major works in the early 20th century. The traveling exhibition was organized by the Johnson Museum and is on display there until Oct. 18. Information: http://museum.cornell.edu/bloomsbury/home.htm.

Gorge walks

The Museum of the Earth and Paleontological Research Institution are sponsoring a series of gorge walks on Fridays in August, exploring local geology in area state parks with museum educators as guides.

The James Potorti Interpretive Gorge Walks are held 10 to 11:30 a.m. each Friday. No registration is required, and the walks are free; participants are responsible for any parking fees required by the parks.

The schedule:

• Friday, Aug. 7: Taughannock Falls State Park. Meet at the parking lot near the lower falls and the start of the gorge trail.
• Aug. 14: Robert H. Treman State Park. Meet at the Upper Treman parking lot, near the gorge trail.
• Aug. 21: Watkins Glen State Park. Meet at the main parking lot on Route 14 near the trail entrance.
• Aug. 28: Buttermilk Falls State Park. Meet near the bottom of the falls at the start of the gorge trail.

Information: http://www.museumoftheearth.org.

Online ticketing

Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts is now offering online ticketing at http://www.schwartztickets.com.

The Schwartz Center has 2009-10 season subscription ticket packages available now; single tickets will go on sale at the end of August. The service carries a nominal convenience fee.

Fall productions at the Schwartz Center include "The Servant of Two Masters," Sept. 17-26; Nicholas Leichter Dance, Oct. 1; "Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music" by Lee Blessing, Oct. 21-Nov. 1; "Romeo and Juliet," Nov. 19-Dec. 5; and "It's A Wonderful Life -- A Live Radio Play," Dec. 12-13.

The spring semester brings the world premiere of "Soirée/Cabaret," Feb. 3-14; Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues," Feb. 17-27; "Dance, Drama and the Disco of Desire: Dance Concert 2010," March 11-14; The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, March 17; and "The Government Inspector," April 29-May 8.